There is nothing more frustrating then trying to calibrate a broken balance. Broken science lab equipment has interfered with more than one of our activities this year. We need 8 triple beam balances so we can accurately measure substances and complete our lessons on density.
I work in a culturally and economically diverse community in a large city in Illinois.
The students in our public school speak more than 30 different languages. Many of them come from families that have come here from different countries and their families speak different languages at home.
Science class can be especially difficult for students that are already challenged by the English language and have limited vocabularies. That is one of the many reasons I try to make my science class as visual and hands-on as possible.
My Project
The importance of getting accurate measurements in science can not be overstated. When teaching a lesson on mass and density my students had a difficult time when it was discovered that the few triple beam balances we had were inaccurate and could not be calibrated. Broken lab equipment meant sharing a couple of balances among 31 students!
This year the lab experiments that could have been conducted by students will need to be demonstrations led by the teacher. This is not how I like to teach science and really takes away from the learning process. Students need to have basic science skills and working with a balance is one of the basic skills needed to perform many science labs. With 8 new triple beam balances, my students will complete labs in groups of four instead of watching me or waiting to use the few that work.
Using a triple beam balance is a basic science skill that students in middle school need to have before moving on to the more advanced science courses in high school.
Funding these balances will have an impact on current students and future students as well. Inspiring students in science takes a hands-on approach and using these balances does just that!
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Pfest and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
